Martin Chuzzlewit

This is an excellent adaptation of a fine novel. It is always a pleasure to see Dickens´s novels successfully made into films or TV series, and this version of Martin Chuzzlewit is without question the best adaptation of a Dickens novel that I have seen. Like in most of Dickens´s works the main plot is sometimes a bit difficult to keep track of because of the many secondary plots which attract our attention, but as far as I am concerned this is not a very serious disadvantage, since the far most important element in any Dickens novel is the wide range of interesting and peculiar characters that fill the pages, and since the cast of this TV production of Martin Chuzzlewit manages to make a number of the characters even more fascinating than they are in the book. All the actors and actresses in this TV-series are good; many of them are brilliant. Most remarkable are Tom Wilkinson, Keith Allen, Pete Postlethwaite, Emma Chambers, Philip Franks, Maggie Steed, and Julia Sawalha. Better acting than theirs in this production is not often seen. The entire cast seem in fact to have inspired and brought out the best in each other. An example of a character which has actually become more interesting as a result of the adaptation from novel to TV-series is the character of Jonas Chuzzlewit: Keith Allen´s interpretation lends him an even more profound air of gloomy desperation and twistedness than is expressed by the Jonas we meet in the novel. Pete Postlethwaite´s interpretation of Mr. Montague Tigg is likewise of such high class that it is almost an improvement on the book without being in the least degree unfaithful to it. I really cannot recommend this TV-series enough. People with a taste for Dickens can see it many times and still feel rewarded.

What an ensemble cast, every one committed and enthusiastic, every one knowing their Dickens, too! Tom Wilkinson is superb --- an actor of many roles, but in this he is fantastic as Pecksniff. Young Martin is perfect (I once saw Ben Walden in Julius Caesar at the Globe)--- a rather spoiled and righteous young man whose tantrums reminded me of Daniel Day Lewis's tantrums in THE NAME OF THE FATHER! Hardest to accept right off are the two Pecksniff sisters, but that's because they are so Dickensian and we are simply no longer accustomed to women being portrayed this way. In the 'small roles', Joan Sims as Betsy Prigg, Elizabeth Spriggs as Mrs Gamp, and Graham Stark as Nadgett -- all hugely-experienced veterans of British broadcasting --- are pure gold. This production did the best it could with such a long book, in dealing with the American episodes -- mostly via letters being read. Nothing more could be done to resolve this difficulty. The late Pete Postlethwaite is a juicy Montague Tigg, as villainous as Keith Allen is terrifying in his Jonas role. There is not a bad casting in it, so let's finish by praising Philip Frank as Tom Pinch -- a role he does so well, so honestly, so unembarrassed, that his many other later appearances on TV are a shock (eg police inspector in "Heartbeat".

Although this BBC production of "Martin Chuzzlewit" from 1994 is not widely known, it is definitely a very good one. The characters are true to Dickens' novel, some of them being rather multi-layered, such as the bitter and twisted Jonas Chuzzlewit, very well portrayed by Keith Allen, or the desperate young Martin Chuzzlewit (Ben Walden), who from his very first scene casts a spell with his eyes and voice.

For those BBC drama collectors who consider buying the video: This is not as light as the fine Jane Austen film versions, but rather dark and gloomy. In my view this contributes to the film's attraction, and I can recommend "Martin Chuzzlewit" without hesitation.

A piece of advice concerning the videotape: Watch it as soon as you purchased it because there are some tapes on which visual noise appears every now and then. You might perhaps have to exchange it.

Martin Chuzzlewit as written by Charles Dickens becomes another of his young men who rise to success stories with a combination of their own perseverance and an unseen hand of fate which seems to be in control of destiny. Others like this are the more well known David Copperfield and Pip from Great Expectations.

There are two Martin Chuzzlewits, the first is the young Dickensian hero who is played by Ben Walden and there is grandfather Martin Chuzzlewit who is Paul Scofield who also plays his own brother Anthony Chuzzlewit.

The old Martin is one rich dude who is a doddering and miserly sort of man worried as to who might deserve the riches he's accumulated in life. Scofield has a flock of relatives who are hanging on every word and every breath hoping to find favor with the old guy. For strangely enough he's cut off young Walden and now the rest of them just think his fortune is up for grabs with his dying breath.

The worst of the Chuzzlewit relatives is a cousin named Seth Pecksniff who is an ostentatiously pious and inwardly scheming individual. He worms his way into Scofield's confidence and tries to undermine everyone else so that he and his daughters may profit. He's not above using his daughters for that end either though the daughters played by Julia Sawalha and Emma Chambers. Pecksniff is one of Dickens's most enduring if villainous characters and here he's played with full unctuousness going on all cylinders by Tom Wilkinson.

One of the daughters in fact at Wilkinson's urging marries an equally villainous cousin Jonas Chuzzlewit played by Keith Allen to further the Pecksniff fortunes. He also takes in 'students' to 'learn' architecture and he's got a lovely racket there in passing off promising student's drawings as his own work and living off the money they pay him to allegedly learn. He deals young Walden dirty that way, but most catch on to him including Walden with exception of good hearted Tom Pinch played by Philip Allen. Even he gets wise at one point.

Martin Chuzzlewit was written after Dickens had returned from an American tour and part of the novel has young Martin and a friend going to America to seek a fortune of his own. Dickens was not happy with what he saw in America and the Americans you see here are a merciless bunch of greedy film flam businessmen. That part of the novel got a short shrift in this production.

Considering how Dickens portrayed some of his own countrymen I can't really fault him for writing what he saw in the USA of the 1840s. Just the Chuzzlewit family or most of them are enough to make you gag.

This is a fine BBC productions impeccably cast and giving us a good picture of the United Kingdom of the early Victorian years. Best in the cast is Tom Wilkinson as Pecksniff. The word itself became a noun in the English language for hypocrite just mccarthyism became a synonym for slanderous accusation without proof.

When one of your characters becomes a noun, that's the greatest success you can have.

Martin Chuzzlewit is perhaps not Dickens at his best but it has the ingredients that make him such a great author in the first place and it deserves to be better known. This 1994 adaptation is fabulous in all areas, one of the best Dickens adaptations of the past 25 years. The production values are splendidly evocative, not too bleak or too squeaky clean, and the adaptation is shot with natural skill. The dialogue is very Dickenesian, with its fair share of funny and affecting parts, while the story while leaving some things out is compelling and faithful in spirit and style to Dickens, respecting his work rather than disregarding it. The pace is just right, the drama is given time to breathe but there's no signs of tedium, while as to hope from a Dickens adaptation the characterisations are rich. Of the fine performances, Tom Wilkinson dominates, a brilliant performance and he hits the arrogant and hypocritical sides of Pecksniff spot on. Phillip Franks is incredibly moving as Tom Pinch. Paul Scofield's titular character is played with splendid dottiness and the much missed Pete Postlethwaite is superb, and we also have an unforgettably hilarious Elizabeth Spriggs and Keith Allen who has never been better. All in all, an underrated book given classic treatment. 10/10 Bethany Cox